ATLANTA – An impressive run at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Southeast Regional came to an end for
Carly Briggs and
Alicia Dudeney, as the pair finished as the runners-up in the doubles competition on Monday afternoon.
Matched-up against the top doubles team in the nation, the Gators put up a fight, battling in the opening frame before falling, 6-4. Georgia Tech's Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura, ranked number one for a reason, kicked into a different gear in the second set to pull away for the 6-2 set and match victory.
Ending as the runners-up at the ITA Southeast Regional, Briggs and Dudeney collected four victories, including a straight-set 6-4, 7-5 effort over Kylie Bilchev and Alejandra Cruz of Georgia Tech in the semifinal round. Their runner-up finish also solidifies their slot at the ITA Fall National Championships from Nov. 2-6 in San Diego, Calif.
As a team the Orange & Blue ended the tournament with 17 overall victories, featuring a consolation singles title from
Emily De Oliveira who claimed the title after defeating Georgia Tech's Alejandra Cruz: 4-6, 6-2, 10-8. For the weekend, the sophomore tallied five of the Gators' wins.
Quotables
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On the weekend and doubles play…
"The two things that really stood out this weekend for us was Emily's performance in singles and her development as a competitor and player, and Carly's performance in doubles. She has completely transformed her doubles play. She's always been gritty as a competitor, but to be playing against the best team in the country and competing at this level in doubles requires a different mindset. You have to be a shot-maker and risk-taker and I have just been really happy with her transformation there. It's going to help us a lot, and we're going to be a completely different doubles team now in the spring because of Carly's improvement in doubles."
On De Oliveira's singles performance at the Regionals…
"You know, she's always been really good at practice, even last year when she had her knee surgery she helped us because she's really good in practice. It was hard for us to gauge what kind of competitor she was and that's one thing she's really showed us this week. In these type of moments, she's not just a ball-striker, but she competes really well. You don't win the consolation of this event unless you're a tough competitor and she certainly showed that, especially in the finals with a three-setter while beating some very good players. That's interesting for us to see, to be honest, but I'm happy and pleased that we have it."
On the team this fall…
"I think our players have done a really good job. We've trained a lot, they've hit a million balls and we're showing improvements on the court. We have to just continue with the same sort of mindset with the month we have left for the fall season, where everybody comes to practice everyday with an agenda to get better and work on the things we feel we need to get better at to improve, and then put together the best product we can by the time we get started in January."
On the depth of this team…
I feel like we're deeper and we're certainly deeper than we thought we were with the emergence of Emily's singles play. We're starting to see, also, how our doubles pairings will look in the spring. Lots of green shoots, but obviously we want to continue to play and compete."
Day Five Main Draw Doubles
No. 1 Carol Lee/Kate Sharabura (Georgia Tech) def.
Carly Briggs/
Alicia Dudeney: 6-4,
Day Four Main Draw Doubles
Carly Briggs/
Alicia Dudeney def. Kylie Bilchev/Alejandra Cruz: 6-4, 7-5
Day Four Consolation Singles
Emily De Oliveira def. Laura Perello Pellicer (USF): 6-4, 6-2
Emily De Oliveira def. Alejandra Cruz (Georgia Tech): 4-6, 6-2, 10-8
Day Three Main Draw Singles
No. 79 Dasha Vidmanaova (Georgia) def.
Carly Briggs: 6-2, 6-4
No. 26 Lea Ma (Georgia) def.
Rachel Gailis: 6-1, 6-3
Day Three Main Draw Doubles
Marie Mattel/Nandini Sharma (Central Florida) def.
Emily De Oliveira/
Sophie Williams: 8-5
Carly Briggs/
Alicia Dudeney def. Mahak Jain/Ruth Marsh (Georgia Tech): 8-2
No. 1 Carol Lee/Kate Sharabura (Georgia Tech) def.
Rachel Gailis/
Bente Spee: 8-7(3)
Carly Briggs/
Alicia Dudeney def. Mia Mack/Audrey Boch-Collins (Miami): 8-2
Day Three Consolation Singles
Emily De Oliveira def. Maya Tahan (Miami): 6-4, 6-1
Bente Spee def. Annabelle Davis (North Florida): 6-0, 6-1
Emily De Oliveira def. Cliona Walsh: 6-2, 6-0
Day Two Main Draw Singles
Anastasia Sysoeva def. Michelle Ncube (Georgia State): 6-1, 6-4
No. 16 Carol Lee (Georgia Tech) def.
Anastasia Sysoeva: 6-1, 6-4
Grace Schumacher (South Florida) def.
Emma Shelton: 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2
Carly Briggs def. Anais Gabriel (Stetson): 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
Carly Briggs def. Ekaterina Khairutdinova (Florida International): 6-3, 6-4
Katerina Filip (Florida Atlantic) def.
Emily De Oliveira: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
Rachel Gailis def. Kate Sharabura (Georgia Tech): 6-4, 6-3
Rachel Gailis def. Alice Amendola (Florida State): 6-2, 6-4
Rosie Garcia Ross (Georgia Tech) def.
Bente Spee: 6-4, 6-2
Day Two Consolation Singles
Emily De Oliveira def. Taylor Dean (Kennesaw State): 6-3, 6-3
Day Two Main Draw Doubles
Rachel Gailis/
Bente Spee def. Emma Bardet/Ida Ferding (Florida Gulf Coast): 8-4
Emily de Oliveira/
Sophie Williams def. Silvia Martinez/Lindsay Tulenko (Georgia Southern): 8-7(4)
Maya Tahan/Isabella Pfennig (Miami) def.
Emma Shelton/
Anastasia Sysoeva: 8-3
Carly Briggs/
Alicia Dudeney def. Carla Galmiche/Amber McGinnis (Florida Atlantic): 8-4
Day One Qualifying Draw Singles
Sara Rakim (Florida A&M) def.
Sophie Williams: 7-5, 7-5
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